Technical Field
Exemplary aspects of the present disclosure relate to a heater lamp for fixation, method of producing the heater lamp for fixation, a fixing device including the heater lamp for fixation, and an image forming apparatus including the fixing device.
Related Art
Various types of image forming apparatuses employing an electrophotographic method to form images are known, such as copiers, facsimile machines, printers, and multifunctional apparatuses including several of the capabilities of the above devices. In the electrophotographic image forming process, an electrostatic latent image is first formed on the surface of a photoreceptor drum as an image carrier and then developed by toner as a developing agent as a visible image, after which the developed image is then transferred to a recording medium (to be referred to as a sheet, recording sheet, or recording medium) to be carried thereon, and finally the toner image on the recording medium is fixed thereon.
The fixing device in general includes a fixation member the temperature of which is maintained at a certain level by a heating member, and a pressure member contacting the fixing member. The pressure member and the fixing member press against each other to thus form a nip portion through which an unfixed toner image carried on the recording medium is conveyed and fused with pressure and heat, to thus form a visible image thereon. Among various fixing members, there is disclosed a fixing device including a fixing roller with a built-in heater lamp due to its simple structure and reasonable cost.
The fixing device includes a heat roller rotatably disposed and including a built-in tube-shaped heater lamp, and a pressure roller rotatable in close contact with the heat roller, in which a recording medium on which an unfixed toner image is formed is passed between the heat roller and the pressure roller to fix the toner image onto the recording medium. The heat roller includes a permeable member that allows near-infrared rays to pass through and absorbs far-infrared rays. A wavelength conversion reflection film to change the light from the heater lamp to far-infrared rays is disposed on an outer surface of the heater lamp that is not opposite the pressure roller. The disclosed fixing device does not need warming-up time or standby time and can fuse the toner image stably to provide a compact apparatus.
There is provided another fixing device that includes a fixing roller to heat the recording medium and a developing agent on the recording medium with ultra-red rays from the heater, and a pressure roller disposed to contact the fixing device roller with pressure. The fixing roller includes a carbon heater lamp that includes a carbon member as a heat generator. The developing agent on the recording medium is heated by the lamp base tube that serves as a pressure member. The lamp base tube applies pressure to the recording medium for a predetermined time and can reduce the warm-up time of the fixing roller.
On the other hand, with the popularization of image forming apparatuses such as a copier, multifunction apparatus, printer, and the like, the image forming apparatus must also comply with ecological requirements in addition to being compact and inexpensive. In the image forming apparatus employing the electrophotographic process, amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC), ozone, and ultrafine particles that are generated and discharged outside the apparatus in the printing operation should be not greater than a predetermined amount.